16 Suffixes have complex but usually regular morphophonemics. Some suffixes require a preceding consonant, others require a preceding vowel, and others allow either; some suffixes also determine the retention or loss of their own final vowel. Syntactic units are signalled by final suffixes and by morphophonemic vowel loss or retention. Suffix order is usually fixed, as is word order within the noun phrase; otherwise word order is fairly free although some orders are preferred. The phonemic inventory consists of three vowels, vowel length, and 27 consonants, including plain, aspirated, and glottalized stops and affricates, as well as fricatives, nasals, laterals, glides, and a flap or trill. Morpheme form classes are roots and suffixes which together form stems. Root classes are nouns, verbs, particles, and a class of interrogatives cutting across the others. Suffix classes are noun (derivational), verb (derivational and inflectional), independent nonfinal (occurring before inflection on verbs and before final suffixes on nouns and particles), and final suffixes (occurring on any word, after all other suffixes). Verb roots are bound; nouns and particles are free. Class change through verbalization and nominalization (a special kind of derivation) is extensive and recursive, creating verb and noun themes. Inflection, defined as